Unexpected Meetings and Unusual People
by Raizen Yusuke
Summary: The library was failing. She put all her heart and soul into making it something she could be proud of, to join the Storybrooke community, and to not be completely depended on Rumple. She had no visitors at all, until one boy walked through the door. Who would have thought her first visitor would be the son of the woman who held her captive for 28 years.


**This just a random story I thought up, while staring at my screen trying to write another story totally unrelated to this one. I like Belle and Henry. I've always thought they shared some similarities with each other that it seemed like a shame the writers never had them interact with each other. The story is set in season 2, but sort of alternate take, since the library will be up running here.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters in any shape or form. This just for fun.**

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The idea of running her own library made her heart leap for joy. She loved reading to the point that she could almost call books her oldest friends. They had entertained her as a girl, comforted her when she needed, and took her to places that no one else could. If there was one iron clad truth it would be that Belle loved books. Perhaps no one in her land respected the written word as much as she. Naturally when she was given the opportunity to actually own and run her own library she jumped at the chance. She spent countless hours getting the old building back into shape. It was thankless work. Some might even say it wasn't worth it, but that was absurd in her opinion. Who didn't need a good book to escape one's troubles or go on adventure of their own?

Belle did all of the work on her own, without complaint. She didn't accept Rumple's help when he offered many, many times. She was determined, although he would claim stubborn, to get the library running on her own. When she got the books organized, the shelves free of dust, and made the building somewhat presentable the overwhelming sense of satisfaction made it all worth it. She was proud at her own hard work, without the help of Rumple, her father, or Ruby. She had done it all on her own. No one could take that away from her.

Sadly the pride she felt didn't prevent the disappointment of an empty library. It had been a week since the grand re-opening of the Storybrooke Library and she hadn't had a single visitor who actually wanted to borrow a book. She had her fair share of people come in to use the restroom or to get a look at the Dark One's Mistress, but no one who was interested in getting a book. It was frustrating to see the library continue to go waste. Her library was neglected and wasting away, yet there was one bright side in all of it. Belle was allowed to read the library's entire disposal of books at her leisure.

At least all this free time allowed her to learn more about this world without magic. Now she wouldn't need Rumple to explain electricity to her. A wonderful book had given her the concept of the idea. The more books she read the more she realized just how much of this new world she had to learn. Hamburgers and milkshakes were the least of what this world had to offer. Refrigerators, indoor plumbing, microwaves, cars, television, it was all miraculous to her. To think people had created such things without magic and only their minds and ingenuity. Needless to say Belle set out to learn as much of her new world and the wonders in it as she could. According to Rumple she was doing an admirable job in learning how to use some of the modern conveniences around his house. Of all the challenges Belle had begun to master the computer was one challenge she could not for the life of her learn. According to what she read it stored a great amount of information on something called the internet. All the books she read on the subject were very confusing. The device had entire books on very different concepts and what it could do. How could one little device have so many different subjects to learn about?

She was currently reading another book about the history of the computer, but it provided her none of the answers she needed. Frustration and disappointment swelled within her as she closed the book with a little more force than she needed to. She hated admitting defeat, but she needed a break before she could continue with her studying. What was she to do now? There was always stealing away Rumple for an early lunch, but what if he had customers? He would turn them away for her without a second thought, but Belle had no desire to inconvenience anyone else, just because she wanted an early lunch with her beloved. Ruby would be working, so she wasn't a viable option either. Unfortunately being the new comer in Storybrooke along with her association with Rumpelstiltskin left her with few friends. Even in this new world she was still thought of as odd it seemed.

That was fine. She would much rather be odd than normal. Being odd led her to Rumple in the first place and she could never regret that. As the unsuccessful librarian pondered what to do with her break the unexpected happened. Her doors opened. A boy had come into her library. It was a strange sight to behold. Children had never come into the library, not even to use her restroom. It wasn't just any boy to appear in her library, but Henry Mills. Henry Mills, the adopted son of the infamous Evil Queen. Henry Mills the grandson of heroic Snow White and courageous Prince Charming. Henry Mills the son of the Savior who broke the curse and returned their memories.

She had seen the boy around town a few times with his grandfather or at the diner with Ruby. Belle had never spoken to him though. Why would she speak to him? Their paths never crossed. Belle could count the number of times she interacted with Prince Charming and she had no dealing with Snow White even back in their land. Snow had been a princess to a great kingdom, while Belle had been the daughter of a nobleman in a small town. Her dealings with Regina had been anything but pleasant. She actively tried to avoid her former tormentor and captor as much as humanly possible. With that goal in mind it was no wonder she hadn't talked to Henry. Seeing the son of the woman who caused her nothing, but anguish and sorrow should have probably made her weary. Instead Belle was curious to find out why Henry was there. Unlike the few people who walked through those doors before him he looked around with a familiar bewildered and enchantment. It was identical to how she looked at Rumple's library back in their world. Could she have her first true customer?

She must have been staring too hard, because Henry stopped looking around and became sheepish. She hoped she hadn't scared him off. He was the only person to come in here beside her who had an apparent interest in books. Fate bestowed her with good fortune because the boy walked over to her desk rather than run away. She would make sure not to come on too strongly, so as not to scare him off.

"Sorry, I just stood there, spaced out. It's just I've never been in here before and got caught off guard by how big it is. There are more books are in here than I thought there would be." He thought she was upset at his gawking. If he only knew how long she had been waiting for this very moment to happen. Belle loved he was gawking. Gawking meant he possessed some level of interest in her books instead of her as other wayward visitors in the past had done.

"I should be the one to apologize for staring at you. You're my first real visitor since I opened up the library. I was overzealous at seeing someone with an actual interest in books." She smiled at him, hoping he found it more welcoming than her earlier actions.

Henry smiled back at her. "Hi, I'm Henry." He offered his hand to shake, which she gladly accepted. He was a polite and well-mannered boy. He was opposite of his mother. If Henry was anything to go off by whatever else the Evil Queen might be she was a good mother or at least raised her son well. The thought of the Evil Queen actually being a good mother shocked her, but if her time with Rumple taught her anything it was that people were rarely as they appeared to be.

"Hello, Henry. My name is Belle."

The boy's smile grew wider. "I know. You look just like you do in my storybook!" he said excitedly.

"Storybook?" She knew that their land and the people in it were considered folktales or fairy tales in this world. She had read some of them in the library, but the stories varied from how things happened in the Enchanted Forest. Some stories were more or less accurate, while others were so drastically different that they only had the name in common. She didn't think her image would be captured so perfectly that Henry would recognize her by sight.

"My storybook," Henry said again. Judging from his tone it sounded as if he was expecting the answer to explained everything. Confusion remained within her. "It has all the stories that happened in the Enchanted Forest. It is how I knew about the curse and how to find Emma to break it."

This was news to her. No one had mentioned this book that Henry possessed or that it had depicted events of the Enchanted Forest. The fact that he recognized her purely on her appearance in his book meant that it must have been extremely detailed as well as accurate. What did Henry mean by all stories of the Enchanted Forest being in his book? Was the history of every person living in Storybrooke on its pages? No. The book would be enormous if everyone's lives were in there. Whose lives were recorded within its pages and why? How did such a book come into existence? Who was its author? There were so many questions that came to mind, but one she wanted to know the answer to stood out above the others. "What exactly is my story in your book?"

"Your story is one of my favorite ones, but I think it's because Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite movies as a kid. It has how you met Mr. Gold and how you fell in love with each other."

Their story was in there. Their story was deemed important enough to be recorded. Their loved was deemed important enough to be recorded. An odd sensation of satisfaction arose. The way Henry was beaming at her with a familiar sly smirk she assumed he was happy it was there as well. "You're Mr. Gold's true love," he stated with a zealous that only a child could produce. The child like giddiness paled in comparison to the conviction Henry had when he said it. Everyone else within the town thought her relationship with him was odd or the product of some curse. Her own father refused to believe it was possible to love the beast truly. Yet this innocent boy was perhaps the only person outside of herself who believed their love was true.

She didn't care what other people thought, but it felt nice to have someone who accepted her feelings, her choice. "Do you think I could ever see your storybook?"

"Sure. You'll probably enjoy it since you like books so much."

"Was that also in there?" she said with a small laugh.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Speaking of books what interests you, Henry? I have adventures with heroes going on epic quests, fantasies were boys become wizards, and even the most fantastic of tales with explores traveling to the stars."

How his eyes lit up. It reminded her of her own youth whenever her father acquired a new book for her to read. Perhaps she had found a kindred spirit within Henry, someone who had a strong love for books as well. "Can I look at all of those?"

"I don't see why not." She guided him to fiction section. Belle thought his eyes lit up before. They illuminated when he saw just how many books she had. He eagerly looked through as many as he could as he could. Any book that caught his eye was discarded for another book that stood out to him. It was amusing to watch. She could have left him to his own devices and he would have most likely still been arguing with himself over which book to pick. Finally she had to step in and remind him that he could always return to get more books as soon as he finished reading the ones he checked out.

So Henry selected two books he wanted to read the most and returned the others to their proper place, although there was some hesitance on his part. One of the books that caught his eye was Peter Pan. That made perfect sense. The story was about a boy hero who refused to grow up and fought pirates. She had read stories herself both in Enchanted Forest and here.

"I think you will be happy with your choices." They returned to her counter. That's when it hit her that she would have to write down all of the information herself. It was a small price to pay though. Business was slow. It wouldn't be much of problem now. Of course if her business did pick up she could foresee cramping hand in her future.

"How come you don't use the computer?" Henry asked innocently enough. At the same time his question struck a nerve. It was hard to admit to people that she was still adjusting to modern conveniences. She was the only person in Storybrooke still ignorant to their new world. They lived their 28 years under the curse as people from this world, even if their lives had been miserable. Belle was locked up in asylum with no memory or knowledge of the new world. She was nothing at all during the curse. She had no one and no one cared or knew she was there. To have such a bleak existence was a fate Belle would not wish on her greatest enemy.

Here she was talking to the son of the woman who had stripped everything away from her. Fate either possessed a wicked sense of humor or possessed a great love of irony. "I am having problems learning how to use the computer," Belle said truthfully. "I've been trying to learn by reading about it, but it is difficult to master."

"I can show how to use it." That response threw Belle for a loop. She was conflicted. She really did want to learn to use the computer on her own. As silly as it was she wanted to conquer it on her own and prove to herself that she could be independent. She recognized that was foolish pride than actual reason talking. There was nothing wrong with accepting help from others. She hadn't gotten any closer on her own. Learning from Henry was more favorable than learning from Rumple.

While Rumple would do everything within his power to make her happy Belle didn't want to always rely on him. Perhaps it was silly, but if one person kept depending entirely on the other person how could their relationship ever truly flourish? The faster Belle learned to stand on her own the more Rumple would trust her to act on her own. If he was to find his son he would need to leave Storybrooke and her behind to do it. As powerful as the Dark One was Belle doubted even he could afford to split his focus. "Are you sure it won't be any trouble?"

The boy shook his head. "It's no trouble at all. I really think you'll like the internet. It has a lot of information on pretty much everything."

"Everything?"

"Well maybe not everything," he amended quickly. "It won't have anything about the Enchanted Forest or real magic, but it has everything about this world." Everything, that meant she could get information on everything she needed to know about this new world. That meant she wouldn't have to go to Rumple any time she had a question. That idea alone was more than enough to make up her mind.

"When can we start?" Belle asked readily.

She could tell he was trying to contain a laugh at her overzealousness. If their roles had been reversed Belle probably would have done the same thing. "I can start showing you now." Their lesson began. To her surprise operating the computer was much easier than she thought. Henry explained the basics, such as turning it on and off and how to get on to the internet. It felt too simple that she couldn't believe she couldn't figure it out on her own.

Henry didn't chastise her for it. He maintained his patience throughout their entire lesson. No question was too silly or idiotic for Henry. Again she marveled at how well-mannered Regina's son was. He wasn't kidding about how much information the internet had. They went on something called google and she found any topic she could think of could easily be typed in and give her hundreds of responses.

"Amazing," Belle uttered. "I can't believe someone could put so much information into this machine."

"Well it's not technically in the computer, but the world wide web. The computer just picks up that information," he explained.

"So it's like a television or a phone," she ventured, not wanting to sound too ignorant.

"Yes! It's exactly like that."

"In our world the closest thing we had to that was magic. It is amazing how people were able to use technology to achieve all of this. Rumple says this is a world without magic, but it does have a magic of its own, just different." She wondered if he tried to use the internet to find his son? Belle would make it a point to suggest using it. If they wanted to successfully find Baelfire they couldn't leave any stone unturned. While she knew it was unlikely the internet to tell them exactly what happened to Baelfire as one of his spells might it could at the very least near down places he could have gone or be at now. She would mention it the next time she saw him.

"Yeah, but it's not real magic," Henry countered. "Your world is the really amazing one. You have sword fights, magic, riding horses, it has all that adventure." He had a yearning for adventure. It was only natural though. What boy didn't yearn for adventure? He had to settle reading about adventures and living through them. She understood that better than anyone. "Here is just here. Nothing really happened before Emma came here." She watched as the unbridled happiness evaporated. He just didn't look right without happiness. It was painful to watch such a happy soul look so crushed.

It wasn't right. Belle reached out to comfort him in some way. She found herself rubbing his arm the same her mother did for her when she was sad. "Your mother and grandmother will find a way back to you." She didn't know either Snow White or Emma, but from what she heard from others, both loved ones and former enemies that neither one of them would give up, until they made it home. Belle believed that as well. She wanted Henry to believe it.

She felt a pang in her heart when he managed a weak smile. "I know. Grandpa says that all the time. I just miss them."

"It can be hard to be apart from someone you love. It can be dreadful." She knew that feeling quite well. "You have to keep hope. Hope allows you to keep going even when you feel as if you can't budge another inch. It gives you strength when you have none. Don't give up hope, Henry. Never give up hope." Their eyes met. She couldn't explain it, but that single look was all it took to return his smile, his true smile. Hope broke through the fog of despair. Belle was glad for that. Hope was essential. Without it life simply could not be. People could not go on. Too many people gave up on hope as it was. If she could help one person maintain it then that was enough for her.

"I won't." It was a promise to. She always wanted to be a hero, but she was unable to ever act on it. Looking at Henry, seeing how she helped to bring back his smile made her feel as if she had saved an entire country from being ravaged by ogres.

"I see you have your first customer." They both turned around to see Rumpelstiltskin. How he managed to get to her desk without making a sound, despite his cane she didn't know. He was always sneaking up on her both in their world and in this one. It almost always startled her. One day she was going to make him explain how he did that. "Hello, Henry."

"Hi, Mr. Gold," Henry said. She didn't hear any underlining fear or barely restrained contempt as she heard from anyone else who had interacted with her Rumple. He spoke to Rumple just as he had to her moments ago.

"I see you've made use of Storybrooke's new library." Rumple for his part spoke to Henry with kindness she had only ever seen extended to her. She knew he always had a soft spot for children. As much as he tried to hide it under the façade of the beast even back in her days at the Dark Castle, but she was quick to learn the stories about him eating children or even his own quip on pelting them were untrue. He let Robin Hood go for the sake of the thief's unborn child.

"There are a lot of books here. It was hard to choose just these two. Belle says I can come back as soon as I read this to get more."

"You were always an avid reader if memory serves. Your head was always in a book." He smiled warmly at the boy. Belle wondered if his soft spot for children had to do with his lost son or if he always carried a fondness for them. When he looked at Henry did he see Baelfire? "This place may even become a second home to you. It would give Belle some company." Henry smiled right back at him. It did her heart proud to see there was at least one other person in this town beside her who saw past the beast. "This is the first time I've had to come to the library to go to lunch. She always meets me at the shop."

That was right. They had made plans for lunch. She completely lost track of time. He didn't seem upset with her. It was the opposite. He seemed almost glad she forgot. No, he wasn't happy she forgot. He was happy that she was busy. He wanted her to be busy, because he knew how much energy went into restoring the library. He wanted her to succeed in her quest to find her independence. He didn't question her. He didn't doubt her. Having him behind her meant more than any of his grand gestures ever could. It was little things like that truly showed the depth of his love for her.

"Perhaps I will see more of you around here?" Rumple asked.

Henry nodded. "I think so. I have to go or mom and grandpa will get worried. Bye, Mr. Gold. Bye, Belle." He was on his way, leaving the two lovers alone.

"He's such a kind boy," she remarked, once he was gone.

"That he is. It is a miracle considering who both his mothers are."

"Rumple!" she chastised. Although, Belle found herself thinking similar thoughts throughout Henry's visit. She would never think to say that aloud.

"What? Regina and Miss Swan aren't two of the easiest people to get along with." No doubt her love had more than his fair experience with both women. Those experiences were more likely than not uneasy, especially where Regina was concerned.

"Neither are you," she retorted.

"True, but I am a difficult man to love."

"Only when you hide behind your mask, but when you show people the true you it is very easy to love you." It was easy to love the man behind the beast. He was a good man, if flawed. Everyone had flaws. "Henry had no problems talking to you, because you didn't try to hide behind your façade. If you show more people the Rumple I know you might be surprised."

"Sweetheart, if I went around making small talk with people and smiled they would almost certainly die of shock. I am a showman. I have to give my audience what it expects."

She rolled her eyes at his flare of dramatics, but found herself smiling in spite of that. He wasn't ready to let the world see the man hidden in the darkness. She would accept his decision just as he accepted hers. One day she was sure he would find the courage to cast away his mask. As much as tried to deny it he was still a good man. She wasn't the only one to know it.

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 **This ends our story. I hope you enjoyed it. Please excuse any bad grammar. I know I'm not great at it, but I'm trying to work on it.**


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